Tag: online harassment

REVIEW: Don't Hate the Player by Alexis Nedd

REVIEW: Don’t Hate the Player by Alexis Nedd

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Bloomsbury YA in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book releases on June 15, 2021.]

Summary

Emilia and Jake met in 4th grade at an arcade birthday party. They bonded over video games. And every year or so for a little while they would run into each other and hang out.

As a junior in high school, Emilia has carefully crafted her life. During the day, she is a diligent student and the captain of the field hockey team. She’s running for VP of the Junior class. If an activity could look good to a college, Emilia is doing it. But at night, she’s a member of Team Fury on Guardian League Online. No one in her real life knows about her gamer life. Her parents would have a fit that she’s wasting so much time that she could be putting toward her college prep. Her friends wouldn’t understand. So it’s a secret, and Emilia wants to keep it that way.

Jake has transferred to Emilia’s school, but she has no idea. She obviously doesn’t remember him because when she sees him, she looks right through him. He’d love to reconnect, but he’s just not sure how to approach her. All of his friends on Team Unity in Guardian League Online are shipping the two of them and urging him to talk with her.

When Wizard Games announces a huge in person GLO tournament, Team Unity and Team Fury are all in. But a public tournament will put everything in Emilia’s gaming life out in the spotlight if anyone finds out who she is. Considering the secrets she is keeping from her friends and family – not to mention the issues women put up with in the gaming world – publicity means nothing but trouble.

Review

What a delight! After a darling opener about Emilia and Jake as kids, there were a few chapters that were slow-going for me. I wasn’t vibing the game at the center of the story. But once Jake and Emilia re-connected, I was sold. The game descriptions made more sense to me as the book went on (I am not a gamer.). But it was the characters and their relationships that made this story special.

I am completely in love with Jake and Emilia – both the kid versions and the high school versions. Jake is the perfect guy for Emilia. He accepts her as she is without expectations. She can be fully herself, and he gets her. It’s lovely.

I adored the humor in this – and the great Marvel/Avengers/MCU references in the book. This was a FUN story, and I would definitely read it again. Readers who enjoy YA romance, gaming stories, and stories dealing with sexism – like Moxie, or Slay, or Don’t Read the Comments – should run right out and pick this one up! (Language, LGBTQ+, TW: online harassment, doxxing, etc.)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would read again!

REVIEW: Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park

REVIEW: Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Avon in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Melody Joo is a new video game producer at a male-dominated gaming company. The boss, Ian MacKenzie, is everything awful you can imagine – demanding, tantrum-throwing, egotistical, and misogynistic. And since he’s the leader, many of the other staff follow his example.

In a moment of commiseration with a female colleague, Melody tosses off a random game idea about male strippers fighting zombies and such in the apocalypse. She was just joking around. But Ian gets wind of the idea. And when the board backs him into a corner about the company’s low engagement with female gamers, he throws Melody’s idea at them. And they love it.

Now Melody has to work with the company’s latest intern – Ian’s nephew Nolan – on this fast-tracked game. Melody and Nolan have already had several conflicts. What are the chances they can finish this project without killing each other?

Review

This was so much more than I was expecting! I knew it would be an enemies-to-lovers romance, but that was a smaller piece of the whole story than I realized it would be. And it was terrific!

The bulk of the story focuses on Melody, striving to succeed in a field – and a company – willfully working against her. The racism and sexism is rampant. Early on, Melody assumes Nolan will be a part of that.

The nitty-gritty gaming pieces are not part of this, which I liked. The focus stayed on the people and the outcomes, which was perfect. While I might not have been 100% clear on what Melody was doing all the time, I definitely knew she was busting her backside, working long hours and leveraging the expertise of her team members and friends when she needed to. When word gets out about her game – targeting female gamers and produced by an Asian woman – the backlash is tremendous. There are no magical solutions to the haters and trolls and doxxing and harassment that Melody endures. But I was quite satisfied with how most of that is sorted out in the end.

The gaming story is balanced out by Melody’s parents who were a lot (for Melody, not for the reader) and her two best friends who are both experiencing major life transitions. They were just the right blend of helpful and focused on things outside Melody’s work life. They rounded out the story well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one! If you like your romance books with a full, meaty story around the relationship, pick this one up. If you love books about strong, bright women fighting for a seat at the table, pick this up. And if you love books about women in tech fields charting their own courses in both their work and personal lives, pick this up. I don’t think you will regret it. You can read my review of the author’s latest YA romance, The Perfect Escape, here. (Language. TW: Harassment)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = Loved it! Would read again.

REVIEW: Don't Read the Comments by Eric Smith

REVIEW: Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Divya is known as D1V in Reclaim the Sun, a space exploration video game. She streams her game play which builds her list of followers and secures her sponsors. The sponsorships are helping her and her mom cover rent and food. Divya’s dad bailed on them. Her mom works two part time jobs while finishing graduate school. Divya doesn’t want to see her mom quit when she is so close to being done. But those part time jobs aren’t close to enough to keep them afloat.

Aaron is a writer and a gamer. His dream is to write the scripts for video games. He’s even done some of that for a small local company called ManaPunk – although they still haven’t paid him for his work. He loves exploring Reclaim the Sun with his friends (they tend to destroy eachother a lot, though), recently discovering a Level 4 planet and letting his little sister name it Planet Butts.

The majority of gamers are good people looking for a fun experience or a diversion. But just like in social media circles, there are trolls, people who target others because of their gender or race or some other reason. They harass those folks until they get scared or fed up and leave the game. A group of trolls calling themselves The Vox Populi have Divya in their sights. But she’s not giving up Reclaim the Sun, her streaming channel, and the life she’s built without a fight.

Review

Grrr, the trolls in this are infuriating! I loved Divya and her friend Rebekah, and I hated the garbage they went through just to have equal access to a game they loved.

Aaron is sweet. I enjoyed his relationship with his little sister. It’s pretty standard in gaming stories like this for there to be a teen who wants to work in gaming and a parent who thinks it’s a bad idea. And Aaron’s mom covers that part of the story. I liked that Aaron and his friend Ryan were involved with gaming, but not on the coding side like you find in a lot of books like this. These guys are involved in the writing and the art side, which made this feel a little different and fresh.

One of my favorite parts of this were the kids – many of them girls – in Divya’s “Angst Armada.” I was hoping in the end that Divya, Rebekah, Aaron and Ryan would build a game for these girls – a safe, fun place to play where they didn’t have to deal with the likes of the Vox Populi. Ugh, those guys were the worst.

I thought it was odd that the Vox Populi didn’t have a stronger motive than general dislike, at least not one they articulated. But I think it’s likely on purpose. No matter what their motive, it’s all based on hate and fear. Divya had something – notoriety, fame, a following, sponsorships – that these guys felt they deserved, and they tried to shut her down. I was thrilled when she chose to stand up to them. The ending was great – so satisfying! If you enjoy gaming stories (like Ready Player One), and stories of teens who fight back against the trolls (like Slay) be sure to check this one out. (Language, TW: assault, harassment)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥